Celtics Journal: Jerebko lands two-year deal with Utah Jazz

The 2015 NBA trade deadline will go down in Celtics history as the day the franchise completed a successful heist of Isaiah Thomas from the Phoenix Suns.

Yet, that was one of two deals Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge pulled off that day, with the other deal having a much more subtle effect on the team’s rapid turnaround from lottery pace that season to the Eastern Conference finals this past spring.

The second deal involved bringing Gigi Datome and Jonas Jerebko from the Detroit Pistons for Tayshaun Prince. While Datome finished out his run in Boston within a few months of the trade, Jerebko re-signed with the Celtics after helping them make a surprise run to the 2015 playoffs. Ainge picked up his option for a third season in Boston this past summer, but late Wednesday night his time in town came to an end when the 30-year-old Swede reportedly agreed to a two-year deal with the Utah Jazz.

Jerebko drifted in and out of the rotation in his final two seasons with the Celtics, but always seemed to work his way back into the mix during key moments of the postseason. Two years ago, Celtics coach Brad Stevens inserted him into the starting lineup after Boston dropped the first two games to the Atlanta Hawks, and he was a key contributor to the next two victories before the Celtics lost the first-round series in six.

This past year, it was Game Three against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the conference finals when Jerebko was massive in scoring 10 points, shooting 4-for-4, with five rebounds as the Celtics staged a miracle comeback that was capped with Avery Bradley’s game-winning shot at the buzzer. Jerebko was a plus-22 in just 12:32 of that game.

“It’s the story of my career,” he said early last season of having to fight his way into a rotation each year. “But it’s fine. I have no problem with doing it over, and over, and over again. I prove people wrong.

“I am used to going to media day and nobody really wants to ask questions. So it’s nothing new to me. I’m not complaining. I know how it goes. New guys come in, new guys get signed, and there’s all the hype. I don’t care. I do things myself. I help the team.”

Jerebko’s departure is part of what has turned out to be a major overhaul this offseason where as few as six Celtics players — Jaylen Brown, Jae Crowder, Al Horford, Terry Rozier, Marcus Smart and Thomas — could be back from the team that won 53 games in the regular season and two playoff series.

“You are not going to be a great team,” Jerebko cautioned early last season, “by, all of a sudden, getting a bunch of new guys on a team and then win a championship. You’ve got to build toward it for a few years.”

A scheduled trip aboard

The Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers will take their rivalry overseas this upcoming season when the teams play a game in London on Jan. 11.

It will be the fifth straight year the NBA has played a regular season game in England.

While the official schedule will not be released until later in the summer, there are hopes within the Celtics that the longer season will allow for additional off days to be put in after the London trip so the players can re-acclimate.

The longer season — designed to limit the amount of back-to-back games and stretches with four games in five days — means the opener will be about 10 days earlier than years past with NBA commissioner Adam Silver saying on Wednesday that the NBA’s opening night will be Oct. 17.

Silver also announced several rule changes designed to increase pace of play in the league.

Teams will now have seven timeouts per game, regardless of half, and be limited to two timeouts in the final three minutes of each half. All timeouts will now be 75-second “team” timeouts — replacing the 90-second “full” timeouts and “20-second” timeouts, which were actually 60 seconds long.

The NBA trade deadline — which had previously been shortly after the All-Star Game — will also be moved 10 days before the All-Star Game in order to allow traded players more time with their new teams.

Headed to South Africa

Jaylen Brown and Celtics trainer Ed Lacerte will represent the team in the NBA Africa Game 2017 at the Basketball Without Borders summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Aug. 5. Brown will play on Team World, including American players, that goes up against a team of first- and second-generation African players.

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